Police are investigating after posters were placed around three schools, including the private Melbourne Grammar and selective Melbourne High.
Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP

Melbourne school students have been targeted by white supremacists, who placed racist posters around high schools carrying the message “Keep Australia White”.

Victoria’s education minister, James Merlino, has labelled the posters “vile and disgusting,” and an investigation has been launched by Victoria police.

“This is incredibly concerning for our school communities,” Merlino said. “These sort of vile and disgusting comments and posters are not acceptable in the community and those individuals that placed them should be ashamed of themselves.”

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He said the schools affected, the private high school Melbourne Grammar and the select-entry Melbourne High, and an unnamed school in Sandringham, a beachside suburb in Melbourne’s south-east, had acted quickly to remove the posters.

The posters were placed at the schools over the weekend and Guardian Australia understands many of them were found and removed before students began entering on Monday morning. Guardian Australia has chosen not to publish images of the posters.

The white supremacy group Antipodean Resistance has claimed responsibility. Members posted pictures on social media of themselves and the posters at the schools along with the statement: “these high schools are overrun by non-whites, which is encouraged by our traitorous government”.

The group describes itself as young Australians who are “at the forefront of Australian National Socialist activism, filling a long empty void”. They self-describe as Nazis, and said 60 posters had been placed around the schools.

The same group claimed responsibility for racist posters targeting Chinese students found on two university campuses last year.

“These awful posters do not belong at a school or anywhere in our society,” she said. “It is particularly cowardice of this white supremacist group to target children at our schools. This is not who we are. There is no place for racism in Victoria.”

She said the community would stands up against those trying to spread fear, hate and division.

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Victoria police confirmed they were investigating the incident at the school in Sandringham, describing it as an incident of racial vilification.

Racial and religious vilification is unlawful under Victoria’s racial and religious tolerance act of 2001. The law deals with public behaviour, not personal beliefs, and prohibits behaviour that incites or encourages hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group of people because of their race and/or religion.

The law also makes it illegal to write racist graffiti, display racist posters or stickers and engage in racist or vilifying abuse in a public place.